Mitt Romney joins Marriott International (hotels) board; NYT misleads to support illegal activity

Mitt Romney has joined the board of Marriott International of hotels fame. Their chairman Bill Marriott is a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, and, due to media corruption, Romney's exact position on that was never cleared up however he was generally against some forms of amnesty. The New York Times editorial board takes note of this in "Mitt Romney in the Amnesty Hotel" (link):

Mr. Romney distinguished himself in the Republican primaries for the vapidity and hypocrisy of his stance on immigration. He proudly professed a rigid hostility to comprehensive immigration reform, waving the word "amnesty" like a bludgeon while conveniently sidestepping his previous endorsements of such reform. In ads, speeches and debates, he displayed a profound fuzziness over what the word actually meant. He once defended a strategy of mass deportations and then admitted the strategy wouldn't work - in the same debate.

That's a reference to the January 5, 2008 debate; see this. The charitable interpretation of his remarks is that he was supporting attrition, a possibility that the NYT doesn't allow.

They then point out that the hospitality industry employs illegal aliens, without explicitly accusing Marriott of engaging in illegal activity. Not that they'd consider looking into that newsworthy or anything. Then, they further mislead, saying that Romney "fired" the landscaping company which - due to a months-long Boston Globe "investigation" - was determined to have employed illegal aliens despite assuring him that their workers were legal. However, Romney wasn't that company's employer; he had a contract with them.

Thu, 01/08/2009 - 15:14 · · Importance: 4